page_title: Reggie Nelson
section_title: College career
hierarchical_section_title: Reggie Nelson / College career
caption_attribution_description: Reggie Nelson of the Jacksonville Jaguars hitting Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts
context_page_description: Reggie Lee Nelson is a former American football safety. He played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team and earned consensus All-American honors. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft and also played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders.
context_section_description: After graduating from Palm Bay High School in 2003, Nelson and Pirates teammate Joe Cohen chose to attend the University of Florida over rival Florida State University. He attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas first, red-shirting his freshman year, and then earned his associate degree and transferred to Florida as a sophomore.
  Nelson accepted an athletic scholarship to play for coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators football team in 2005 and 2006.  Nelson was an immediate sophomore starter for the Gators at free safety in 2005. Nelson started in four games, and registered forty-six tackles, with four sacks, and forced a fumble.  Against Georgia, Nelson recorded a career-high seven tackles. He also totaled seven tackles against Vanderbilt and Florida State.
  In his junior year, which would end up being his last season as a Gator, Nelson was selected as a member of the team's Leadership Committee, which was only one small highlight of his 2006 campaign. The Gators ended up going to the BCS National Championship Game and defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, while Nelson recorded fifty-one tackles, five pass breakups and six interceptions. Two of his interceptions were against the Tennessee Volunteers, and he returned another for a seventy-yard touchdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Nelson was a first-team All-SEC selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and he was chosen by his Gators teammates as the team's most valuable player.
  In 2006, he was part a defense that helped the Gators win their first SEC title in six years and their first national championship in ten years. While also gaining him the moniker "The Eraser" for his strong defensive play throughout the season as well as the "battle for the SEC" game against LSU.
caption: Nelson hitting Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts in 2007.
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